Boss Nanny Ch. 09

"Sure, but Jay was the first and only open gay player drafted in any sport, let alone in the first round. That made non-sports headlines. Still does."

Now that the guy mentioned it, it sounded familiar. He was in high school and barely out himself. He wasn't into sports, but he knew it was a big deal to draft an openly gay player.

"He's made a name for himself, that's for sure. His humanitarian work is off the charts. He's what more athletes should strive to be like. Gay hasn't stopped my wife from being half in love with him."

There was something Matt was more than happy to sit and talk about, the importance of public figures being role models and setting the bar for others. Not only did they have excessive amounts of money, but they had social platforms that could truly promote positive causes to millions of people with little effort.

Matt and the stranger talked for a while. He wasn't sure how long, but eventually they were interrupted. "Hey, I'm Jay."

The guy eagerly stuck his hand out. "I'm Chance. Hi. Shit. You're Jay Petermeyer."

Matt laughed at how fumbly his new friend was. All the confidence he had earlier with was gone; he'd been reduced to mush with one handshake.

"Nice to meet you," Jay said. "You must be pretty awesome if you were able to keep Matt here for forty-five minutes."

Chance looked at his watch. "Forty-five minutes? Shit, I'm late." He threw some money on the bar and stood up. "Matt, it was really nice to meet you and Jay--"

"Picture?"

"Fuck yeah," the guy smiled and handed Matt his phone. Jay went all out, hamming it up for the camera. When Chance left, Jay ordered another round. He sat next to Matt, slid a drink over, and spoke in a way that was overly secretive and borderline creepy.

"Seamus is low-key freaking out right now. If I was you, I'd take him this drink, kiss him on the cheek, and make sure you're touching him in some way or another for the rest of the night."

Matt furrowed his brows and looked over his shoulder. Seamus was at the table laughing. He looked great, happy, stunningly beautiful. Nothing looked amiss. Matt had no clue what Jay was talking about.

"Don't stare at him, you'll make it obvious we're talking."

"Obvious we're talking about what? I don't even know what we're talking about. Seamus isn't freaking out. What would he be freaking out about anyway?"

"You sitting here with some strange guy for almost an hour instead of sitting with your boyfriend."

"Seamus doesn't care about that."

"Seamus most definitely cares about that."

Matt chanced another look. Seamus was still laughing and happy with his friends. Matt was starting to think that Jay was causing drama to be an asshole.

"You can stop looking, he's never going to show his cards. That doesn't mean he's not bothered. After the hell Kelly put him through--" Jay shook his head, frustrated and disappointed about whatever had happened.

"Seamus loved Kelly. He's never said a bum word about him."

Jay rubbed his beard. "Well, I'm not surprised. Grief can make you feel and behave in ways that aren't typical."

"What are you talking about?"

"Kelly was an asshole. He spent their entire relationship cheating on Seamus. He wanted Seamus to be his husband because Seamus is a fucking good guy, but Kelly never had intentions of being monogamous. Too bad he roped Seamus into marriage before making that part clear. Seamus kept asking Kelly to stop, Kelly would placate him, even keep in on the low for a while. About a month before Kelly died, Seamus walked in on him having sex with another guy. Kelly got upset at Seamus for making a big deal about it. So, instead of taking Seamus on vacation like they had planned, he took the guy he was fucking. That was it for Seamus, he was talking divorce but--"

Kelly never made it that far.

Matt was reeling. Seamus never let on, never mentioned a word. Nothing. Zilch. Seamus almost never talked about Kelly, and now he knew why. Matt wasn't upset, maybe a little disappointed, but he knew Seamus would tell him when he was ready. The thought that Seamus was keeping this bottled up more upsetting than anything.

He shook off the shock and made his way back across the bar. "Sorry it took so long. That guy was pretty star-struck with Jay," Matt explained. "He about shit himself when Jay came over and rescued me."

Matt pressed against Seamus and squeezed his thigh a few times for good measure. Maybe Seamus wasn't so carefree after all. Now that Matt was there, he could feel tension rolling off the guy in waves.

The rest of the table welcomed Matt back in a way that was clearly meant to create unity and to keep their friend grounded. Matt was thankful for that, thankful for them.

"I found out something interesting about a certain professional football player while talking to Chance," Matt said. Jay preened, happy that Matt finally knew who he was. "Jackson's having an amazing season and scored a killer contract with the Texans. I guess we'll see if he's worth it. What do y'all think?"

Matt still had no clue who Jackson was, but the look on Jay's face, hell, the look on everyone's faces, made the whole evening better. Jay flipped Matt off while the rest of the table had a friendly laugh at his expense.

"Kick a man while he's down, why don't you," Jay pouted.

Scott turned to Matt and pointed his thumb to Jay McPouterson. "So, Jay here has been hung up on this guy for a while. Couldn't get the dude to look twice at him. This isn't a problem Jay usually has. Turns out the guy doesn't know shit about football and doesn't idolize this dumb bastard like most everyone else. Like we said, Jay's ego is concussed at the moment. He was totally hoping you'd recognize him and fawn over him so he could feel better about himself and rub it in Seamus' face. You did no such thing." Scott seemed pretty smug about the whole thing, content in his friend's misery.

"How are things going with Loren, anyway? Any gains?" Will asked his buddy.

"You know there's not. You're just trying to shame me in front of Seamus' boyfriend. But it's not working."

It was working.

Trevor looked at Matt, happy to share all the details. "Most Tuesdays, Jay and a few of his 2.0 friends--"

"They're my teammates," Jay corrected. "The Sack Pack."

"Anyway," Trevor continued. "Jay and his wannabe friends--aka the 2.0 friends--go to this shitty ass bar on the eastside of Seattle. It's a dump, but the beer is cheap and no one bothers them. It's one of the few places the players can enjoy themselves without people interrupting or asking for autographs and pictures. Well, about a year ago a group of guys started showing up. Normal, you know, it's a fucking bar after all. Lots of guys call this particular bar home. Until Loren showed up."

"Cute guy," Will takes over. "Probably five-eight and built like a boxer. Scared the shit out of me--"

"Everyone scares the shit out of you."

"They don't scare me; I just don't condone violence." Will flips his friends off then returns his attention to Matt. "So, this guy struts into the bar like a badass--"

"Wait," Matt puts up his hand. "Were you guys there? At the bar in Seattle?"

"Nah, but we got the details from multiple sources."

"We're experts."

Matt nodded. "Okay, so, badass?"

Will lifts his beer towards Matt and continues. "Yes, he walked in like a badass and sits down with his friends. Boom, Jays in-fucking-love. Full on hearts-in-eyes and shit. He spends all night staring like a cuckoo. 2.0 friends take notice of Jay taking notice. The night ends--nothing. Weeks pass, the friends show up, but no cutie. A month later, boom, he's there again. All night Jay waits--nothing, not a single look. After a few months, they see a pattern. Lover boy only shows up on the last Tuesday of the month."

Trevor jumps in. "One of those Tuesdays was a jersey theme night. Jay and his 2.0 friends had bets going to see which of their jerseys would be most popular. Given Seattle is known for their fan base, it was likely the whole place would be full of their numbers."

"I won by the way."

"That's debatable," Scott scoffed. "Anyway, lover boy's friends show up. They're all wearing the most random fucking jerseys from players who never really played; third string backup to the backups and such."

Jay smiled at the memory. "We spent the first half of the night googling who the fuck they wearing."

Will smacked Jay. "Are you gonna let us tell the story?"

Jay rolled his eyes but stayed quiet.

"Anyway, his 2.0 friends invited lover-boy's friends to join them. They jumped, of course, not often you're invited to hang out with A-list Seahawk players. An hour later, guess who walks in?"

"Badass boxer guy." It was a rhetorical question, but Matt answered anyway. The story was getting good.

"Bingo," Trevor pointed at Matt. "Jay 'bout had a heart attack when stocky blonde took off his jacket."

"He was wearing your jersey?"

"Fuck yeah he was," Jay said proudly.

"Yeah, but it gets better, or worse, depending on how you look at it," Trevor laughed. "The guy hesitantly sits down, not keen on joining a group of unknown giants. Well, Jay confused the nervousness for starstruckness. So, what does he do?"

"Tries to strike up a conversation," Scott jumps in, trying so hard not to laugh. "He says, 'so, number 99 huh?' The guy had no clue what Jay was talking about. But Jay, being the self-absorbed superstar he is, didn't notice. Instead, he stuck his hand out and introduced himself. Loren was like, 'uh, Jay, you said? I'm Loe. Nice to meet you?'."

"Jay couldn't leave well enough alone. He had to make a total fool of himself and press on. 'You a fan?' He was smiling like a maniac, probably being creepy as fuck, freaking the poor guy out. Loe looked down at his jersey and then glared at his friends."

"'You fuckers!'" Will mock yelled, then started laughing so hard he had to wait to continue. "Turns out, Loe's friends had a history of giving him jerseys of players who'd been involved in big scandals, making him look like an idiot at every bar they went to. Loe yelled at his friends, demanding they tell him which washed up, has-been player he was wearing now. Or was it an animal abuser? Or the guy that leaked his own sex tape? A murder? He kept going, naming every ridiculous scandal he could think of."

"That's when Jay realized Loren had been tricked into wearing his jersey. He had no clue who Jay was and no interest in learning."

"Yeah, because his fucking friends ruined it by making him wear my jersey."

"Why did they?" Matt asked.

This time Seamus stepped in. "Because Jay's the only out and proud NFL player, and their friend is gay. They thought it would be a great icebreaker."

"Except now he thinks I'm some crazy animal-abuser-turned-amateur-pornstar-murder-for-hire. Why else would his friends have picked my jersey?"

"So, what happened?" Matt asked.

"Nothing. Loe hates all things sports--"

"No," Trevor corrected. "He hates how much money players are paid while so many other professions barely make ends-meet. He also hates how the league downplays injuries, especially head injuries, despite the growing scientific evidence against concussions."

"Well, those are two big black marks against me. I'm the second highest paid defensive end in the league and my position has a high rate for injuries, including concussions."

"And he thinks you're an arrogant fuckwad."

"And he thinks I'm an arrogant fuckwad," Jay agreed.

Seamus and his friends reached over and laid hands on Jay. It would've been a nice gesture, but they could barely hide their smiles. Must've been amusing to watch their millionaire, professional athlete friend, who worked his ass off to get to the top, fail in love because of the very things he worked so hard to achieve.

"Well, looks like Arrogant Fuckwad gets to buy the next round."

And Jay did. Then Scott, then Will, then Seamus.

Seamus and his friends talked about everything and nothing. They laughed and teased. All the while Matt followed along, laughing and holding tight to Seamus.

"Well," Scott semi slammed his empty beer glass on the table. "I adjourned this meeting. Everyone in favor, say I."

"I," the group said in unison.

The server came to clear the table while everyone grabbed their coats. Seamus was pretty drunk, trying and failing not to stumble.

"Matt," Will gestured toward Seamus. "Take care of this guy, we kinda like him."

Scott agreed, "Yeah, it's nice to see Seamus happy."

Trevor put his arm around Seamus' shoulder. "I never did ask, where is the little cutie?"

"Aidan?"

"Yeah."

"He's with grandpa this weekend."

"Ahh," Scott smiled at Matt, then glared at Seamus. "As sweet as that is, don't show your face at the next board meeting unless you have him in tow."

"Then I won't see you for a while," Seamus frowned. "Matt and Aidan are moving back home for the summer."

"Wow," Matt laughed. "Way to throw me under the bus. Now I know how Jay feels. So much hate."

"See," Jay shouted, wrapping his arm around Matt. "This guy understands me. He's promoted to best friend. The rest of you douches are demoted. Friends 0."

Everyone moaned and groaned and gave Jay a hard time as they shuffled to the parking lot. Seamus tossed Matt the keys and everyone piled into the SUV.

Maybe they hadn't been fooled by the camo soda after all.